Musician holding concert to help pay for friends' headstones

On what would have been Jairo Emanuel Jimenez's 23rd birthday, his mother Sue and other loved ones gathered at his Vallejo gravesite to mourn his death -- and mark his life.

They also paused last Wednesday to reflect on his older brother, Enrique Alejandro Jimenez, who was shot to death in Vallejo in early 2011.

He is buried next to Jairo, the latter who died of health complications a year after his older brother's death.

The family lacks the money to put up headstones so loved ones bring flowers and balloons and other items to put atop their graves at Sunrise Cemetery on Sacramento Street in Vallejo.

When Vallejo friend Ralph Jefferson Jr. heard that Sue Jimenez didn't have enough money to buy headstones for her sons, he vowed to do something to raise some money.

"It broke my heart and I wondered how can I help to make that happen," Jefferson said.

Jefferson has been attending candlelight vigils for Enrique since his shooting death in January 2011, and is staging a benefit concert for the family.

Sue Jimenez said her two sons were "very close" and while Jairo had a health condition, she suspects he may have died from a

broken heart.

"I feel his heart just gave out on him," she said.

Jefferson, a Vallejo Hip Hop artist who goes by the stage name of Jack Nastie, said proceeds from the concert will go to the Jimenez family so they can buy headstones for the brothers.

"I lost my brother in 1996 (in a car accident in Contra Costa County) so I understand what it's like to go to the cemetery," he said.

The concert takes place 9 p.m. Saturday, May 25, Memorial Day weekend and will feature local Hip Hop artists Kuzzn Bank, the band Shananagens and DJ Big Likk, all performing at Chris' Club, 656 Benicia Road, Vallejo.

Jefferson said he's been trying to put on a local Hip Hop concert at the popular bar for months. When he finally got approval he decided to turn it into a benefit for the Jimenez family.

The Hip Hop music will not promote gangs or violence, but is meant to be fun and enjoyable, he said.

Admission is $5 per person.

Sue Jimenez said she feels "blessed" that Jefferson came into her life to try to help the family buy headstones.

The deaths of two of her sons barely a year apart has been a devastating loss, but she said she finds strength through her Christian faith.

Financially, things are also looking up since she secured a job at Goodwill a few weeks ago, she said.

More than two years since his death, the killing of Enrique Jimenez remains unsolved, she said.

According to police, he was shot while waiting in his vehicle for his boss to pick him up from work near the Howard Johnson motel on Jan. 21, 2011. Friends and family said he had turned his life around and left his drug and gang problems behind him.

Nearly a year later, on Jan. 29, 2012, Jairo never woke up in the morning from his sleep. Sue Jimenez said he had been having seizures but the family did not realize he had an enlarged heart until after he died.

"It is devastating," she said of losing two sons a year apart. "But I found God and that has pulled me through -- the grace of God," she said.

Those who cannot attend the concert but still would like to help out financially can send donations to an account set up at Umqua Bank in Vallejo. The account number is in the name of Fernando Jimenez, Account No. 992257642. The bank is at 976 Admiral Callaghan Lane, Vallejo, 94591.